Young Ayoze Perez is going to need time to settle. It would be grossly unfair to rely on him to become the new Andy Cole so early on in his Newcastle career.

Don’t forget Yoan Gouffran who, for me, is taken for granted because everyone knows what the team will always get from one of the most honest and hard-working footballers to pull on a pair of boots.

But, and this is not a criticism given what he contributes, the Frenchman is not a central striker and his goal ratio at Newcastle is less than one in five.

And, of course, there is Papiss Cisse. But then you could write a 10,000-word thesis on what has gone wrong and still may come right for the guy, and come no closer to working out whether he will rediscover his scoring touch.

So someone needs to pick up the phone and say to the boss: “Mike, I know we have Cabella, Riviere, De Jong, Cisse, Perez, Gouffran and young Adam Armstrong on the books ... erm, any chance we can get another striker?”

If Pardew is to play a 4-2-3-1, and it’s a fair guess that he will, the three will be De Jong in the middle, Cabella on one side and AN other, be it Gouffran or someone else, on the left. Their job will be to feed the guy playing theNo 9 role, even if he’s not wearing that shirt.

Action Images / John Sibley

France's Remy Cabella during training

Cisse of a few years ago could do that. So, too, could Demba Ba and Loic Remy.

I am not convinced, although it would be lovely to be proved wrong, that any of the players currently at the club can fulfil that role. Certainly not against the current Premier League champions.

If that’s it in terms of striker signings, Riviere is the man who will be asked to lead the line. A big responsibility.

Pardew was sensible to warn against expecting too much right away from the new man, not only because he is relatively inexperienced, but life at AS Monaco is more than a bit different from coming into this wonderfully crazy environment.

The manager said: “It’s a different type of atmosphere here at Newcastle to what he’s experienced at Monaco, that will excite him and lift him.”

He can say that again.

Monaco regularly play in front of crowds of 6,000. The Principality has no comparison to a packed Gallowgate End.

John Collins, former Scotland international and now Celtic assistant manager, spent two enjoyable years with Monaco in the late 1990s, a period that saw his side beat Newcastle 4-0 on aggregate.

He would have stayed longer – indeed he lived there for three years after retirement – but there was something missing.

When asked why he choose to give up a life he genuinely loved to sign for Everton, he recalled: “I was 30 years of age and I’d just been to France ‘98 to play in the World Cup in front of packed stadiums.

“I felt this was my last opportunity to go and play in England and I was missing the full houses. That’s the one thing that I did miss at Monaco.

“We did have 12,000-plus for the games in the Champions League but it was never quite the same as the atmosphere at Celtic Park.

“So I thought I had to walk away with my great memories to go and play in the Premier League.”

It will take time for Riviere to adjust. Same goes for Perez and Cisse needs to somehow find his form.

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